(Uno) 1. Our understanding landlord, Signor Messina. First and foremost for dealing with translation! Also – for being understanding about us drilling into ceramic tile that is basically the only thing he doesn’t want us to do in the house. We can drill into the concrete walls all we want. He stopped by and saw our new bathroom fixture and was a little upset.

(Due) 2. [Switch to our awesome rental agent, Salvo.] I called Salvo after the conversation about the fixtures because I wanted to make sure we all understood each other. Salvo grew up in Australia from 2-12 years old, and his English and Italian/Sicilian are near-perfect.

(Tre) 3. [Back to Signor Messina.] I called to let him know we ran out of gas in our Bombola (we are not on city gas…yet! By next year we should be). Um…I had a new Bombola an hour later. And, a spare delivered today so we have backup.

(Quattro) 4. [Skip to the nice folks at Parco Avventura] A kind gentleman stayed with me through my very basic Italian to settle up on our reservations for a ropes course over the weekend. It should be a great time.

(Cinque) 5. [Wrapping it up back with Signor Messina.] He is wonderful. This is already the best landlord relationship I can think of (other than my parents in between places – thanks Mom!). We’ve been invited for dinner and to a card party around the holidays, Signor Messina keeps telling me he is happy that Dave and I are the ones renting his condo. It is such a brilliant compliment – warm and encouraging while simultaneously creating a desire in me to live up to his expectations of us.

Cento

The time has come – Home Alone time!!! I listened to the soundtrack yesterday. Yes, that’s right. I own a cd version (pre-iTunes!) of the soundtrack to Home Alone. Apparently, Dave was in Afghanistan last year when Home Alone fever hit me, (about six days later than this year’s infection); he was oblivious to the soundtrack. It is a great soundtrack, lacking a few songs that probably just cost too much to include (ahem, Bing Crosby estate, ease up on the royalty demands!). To the former John Hughes, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for this masterpiece of family cinema.

Ah, yes. This picture combines my love of the Midwest, Home Alone, my home state (Wisconsin!), and the iconic Wienermobile (Oscar Mayer hotdogs originated in Madison, Wisconsin. I have met Oscar Mayer himself (now with John Hughes in the afterlife – have fun guys!)).

Happy Home Alone Season!!!

p.s. Dave Chapelle is basically a genius and you should watch the Wrap It Up link above.

It is an Italian company. If you want to read more about it, copy the web address (URL) in the web browser address bar (at the top) and open a new window with Google Translate. Paste the link into the Google Translate box and it will do a great job translating for you.

Sweet. A friend of a college friend of mine knows a guy who put Dave Chapelle up for the night when he was passing through Madison, WI (where I went to college). I know, a stretch, but Chapelle’s pure genius makes me grasp for that straw!